Private Sydney Columnist

News has taken a little while to filter south, however PS extends its sincerest congratulations to erstwhile Kuala Lumpur operative Kee Hua Chee for getting the inside scoop on the Rinehart family.

Dripping in fake bling, the snake-hipped social scribe who bills himself as Malaysia's ''Uniquely Stylistic Celebrity Journalist'',has offered a breathless account of his night with the world's richest woman, our very own Gina.

Chee, dressed in an Elvis-inspired white playsuit with gold dragon applique, caught up with the Pilbarra Princess, who was resplendent in a flowing hot pink kaftan, at the KL Hilton late last year as she was being awarded a huge glass trophy, which looked like a giant pepper mill, at something called the McMillan Woods Global Awards.

Contract negotiations ... Miranda Kerr. Photo: Pierre Toussaint

But best we let Kee Hua Chee recount the evening in his own florid prose.

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''Gina Rinehart, despite her billions, was very friendly, charming and always smiling. In fact she did not appear hard-nosed, hard-core or hardened shrew like some minor businesswomen I know!

''She looked more like a jolly granny with little make-up, natural hair style without any spray and little bling.''

Bounced ... Sarah and Lachlan Murdoch.

''She wore only a simple strand of pearls which were not massive either as they looked like only 14 to 15mm and not the 20mm I thought someone of her stature would don.''

Chee also had his own take on the Rinehart family feud: ''I am shocked to my bone marrow as I think they [the plaintiffs] are doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.''

Rinehart arrived with quite an entourage, including a man described as a ''good friend'' Kevin Withers, youngest daughter and bride to be Ginia, who was there with her fiance Ryan Johnston, son of Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, and two Cambodian girls the Rineharts are reportedly ''sponsoring''.

According to Chee, he mistook Ginia, who has not joined her siblings in suing their mother, ''for a model or Aussie beauty queen.''

Well, she was wearing a Valentino evening gown worth $20,000 and a strand of diamonds estimated to be worth $1.2 million.

While the couple celebrated their engagement in Los Angeles in January, PS can reveal a wedding is likely to happen in Italy later this year, though Ginia, who is about to start an internship learning the mining business, wasn't giving any details to Chee: ''Ryan and I have not decided on anything.''

Kerr's demands are a pain in the neck for DJs

Even a neck brace has been unable to stop Miranda Kerr from making a long list of demands as she negotiates with David Jones over her multimillion-dollar contract with the department store.

As PS revealed on Wednesday, Kerr has been wearing a neck brace since a serious car accident in Los Angeles on Monday, resulting in painful whiplash and several MRIs to ensure no permanent damage had been sustained.

But neck pain is the least of her worries, as PS has learned that both the retailer and the supermodel, represented through global modelling agency IMG, have ''put their cards on the table'' with a long list of demands from either side in what is shaping as a protracted and expensive corporate tussle.

Kerr's contract with DJs is due to expire at the end of the year. She is due back in Sydney next month when she will unveil the new uniforms for her other corporate sponsor, Qantas.

She is also planning a lavish pre-30th birthday party while in Sydney, notching her third decade on April 20, when she intends to be back in LA in the arms of her Hollywood husband, Orlando Bloom. However, she has made a special request for some of her oldest and most loyal friends to be present at the soiree being planned in Sydney.

While the DJs deal remains one of her most lucrative contracts, along with her skin care range Kora and her star-billing as a Victoria's Secret lingerie ''Angel'', Kerr's ''value'' has increased significantly since she first signed with the retailer.

Insiders report Kerr has been earning about $1 million a year from David Jones, however observers note that since she first signed with the store her celebrity status has been on the ascent, thanks to her marriage to Bloom, the birth of their son Flynn and becoming a regular name on the US pop culture radar. While DJs has benefited from her increasing fame, it also means she has become a more valuable marketing commodity.

Rumours that negotiations had hit a snag with DJs have been swirling around the corridors of corporate Australia, however she is contractually obliged to return to the department store's catwalk for the spring-summer collections launch, scheduled for August. If negotiations fall apart, the show could be her final outing for the store.

Murdochs find no room at the inn

You really haven't lived in Sydney until you have been turned away from the door of the hottest bar in town.

However it truly was a case of ''don't you know who they are?'' when media mogul Lachlan Murdoch and his model wife Sarah were turned away from the painfully hip watering hole Baxter Inn recently.

As PS hears it, a slew of frantic texts were broadcast as members of the Murdochs' entourage attempted to pull strings to get themselves inside the hip subterranean bar. Sadly, to no avail.

Baxter Inn is the latest outpost from small bar operators Anton Forte and Jason Scott, who have subscribed to an interesting door policy, claiming that while ''everyone is welcome'', they do not take bookings, have door lists or host functions.

In Darlinghurst, the sandstone-lined Tatler club has an equally challenging reputation for gaining entry, which new operators Tim Clark and Brendan Watson intend on maintaining when the venue is relaunched in May under the artistic direction of events supremo Tony Assness, hinting at a series of decadently themed nights at Tatler.

''The fact we can only have a capacity of 100 people means by its very nature the venue will always be exclusive,'' Assness told PS. With its cast iron gate, peep hole and intercom, Tatler's ''door bitch'' has witnessed many a desperate name drop over the years in order to get in. Just finding the front door is challenge enough, involving a dimly lit stairwell and little signage.

But it doesn't matter what your name is when it comes to Forte and Scott's venues, which include Darlinghurst's Shady Pines. When the bars hit their maximum capacity, which they do with all too much frequency, no one else is allowed in, not even a Murdoch.

Undeterred, Murdoch has become a fan of the venues, and is rumoured to have tried to hire Shady Pines a few months back with a $50,000 fee, which was politely declined with Forte and Scott sticking to their original policy of not having private functions.

A year out for Abbott's sister

As the first anniversary of Christine Forster's national outing as a lesbian at the hands of Rupert Murdoch's henchmen approaches, Tony Abbott's sister admits ''it has been a pretty wild ride''.

''The article in The Australian was difficult … that time was hell. It put my personal life in the public domain, and I had never intended to do that. There are sensitivities with family and children, because of that I would never have put that out myself,'' Forster told PS this week, reflecting on her new found fame which included another outing, this time on her terms, last Sunday on 60 Minutes.

''I guess it allowed me to take a keen look at going into public life as I was no longer trying to protect anyone any more,'' said Forster, who has traded a quiet suburban life in St Ives for the inner-city delights of Surry Hills.

Forster was elected as a Liberal councillor on City of Sydney council last September. Both she and her partner Virginia Edwards left marriages and broke up families to be together, the ramifications of which left many unhealed wounds.

''Our families knew about our relationship years before I was outed … there are six children between us. Everybody adjusts to big changes at different rates, they are all moving along and I like to think they are coming onto the same page.''

However she remains hopeful that her sexuality will become a secondary issue. ''I do hope that now people know about it, they can just get over it … I'm more interested in what I can do as a member of local government than simply being thought of because of my sexuality,'' she said.

RENOUF POSITIVE

Friends report '80s icon Susan Renouf, pictured right, has vowed to fight on, and remains positive about her ovarian cancer diagnosis as she goes into weekly bouts of chemotherapy before starting on a course of radiotherapy. ''She was bright as a button and has been very positive about it,'' reports one of her closest pals, Eileen Bond, who has been keeping tabs with constant phone calls. Renouf's wide circle of friends in Sydney and Melbourne, including PS, look forward to the day when she resumes her rightful position on the social radar.

AN UNLUCKY BUGGY ESCAPE

Tales from the recent Silver Party at Bellevue Hill mansion Barford are slowly trickling in, the charity fund-raiser that involved the usual line-up of socialites, money bags and wannabes playing up for a good cause: the Sydney Childrens Hospital. But several guests were left clutching their pearls as the rain teemed down, prompting one of them to commandeer a courtesy golf buggy that was leaving Barford's grounds, on the way to destinations unknown and carrying a cargo of several well-to-do types, including a prominent publicist and antiques dealer who shall remain unnamed. However, the buggy was soon pulled over and the driver told it could not go on regular roads. As confusion ensued, one of the occupants accused another high-profile Sydneysider who has recently fallen on hard times of taking off with it, providing much hilarity except for the poor woman accused.a

CUE KEATING

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating maintains a keen eye on development around Sydney. He was among the crowd which had gathered on Queen Street, Woollahra, last week to hear about a controversial new apartment development being proposed in the silvertail suburb. While Keating was quiet on the subject, his presence was certainly felt among the locals, prompting several of them to whip out their mobile phones to capture the moment for posterity. For many years Keating and his former wife, Anita, and their children lived on Queen Street in the stunning mansion St Kevin's.